While there are popular sports titles not made by EA, such as 2K Games’ NBA 2K franchise, the video game publishing mammoth has largely taken a hold of the sports video game market. As of now, their NBA franchise has been put on hold after the lackluster reception of NBA Elite but that doesn’t mean their other franchises aren’t alive and well. Just recently Madden NFL 13 has hit the streets and has already been accruing positive reception. However, while Madden is wildely popular it’s arguable that EA’s FIFA franchise is the most popular sports franchise on the market.

Now that it’s fall, it’s time for yet another FIFA title to hit the streets. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that FIFA 13 will be released later this month on September 25th for the United States, September 28th for Europe and September 27th for Australia. Included in the update are features such as a new player impact that makes collisions more realistic than ever before and much more.

September 25th may be just a few weeks away but even a day is too long for the real FIFA nuts. Lucky for them, they can get their FIFA 13 fix right now. It’s just been made known that the FIFA 13 demo is available for download free of charge for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Quite obviously, Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers will look towards Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, respectively, but PC gamers will be forced to look towards EA’s Origin digital distribution service. You will need to register for an Origin account to grab the download with more information available here.

While you’re waiting for your download to finish, check out a trailer for FIFA 13 after the break.

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There’s been an ongoing debate over whether or not dedicated portable gaming consoles are necessary. Naysayers suggest that ultra powerful smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S III or iPhone 4S will one day take over. Hardcore gamers, on the other hand, know that taking the action on the road calls for more serious artillery such as Sony’s PS Vita or Nintendo’s Nintendo 3DS. While gamers have applauded the Nintendo 3DS for its glasses-free 3D display and other interesting features, the PS Vita is a beast of another kind. Packed within this portable power house is a 5-inch high resolution multi-touch OLED display, quad-core processor and graphics chips, 512MB of RAM, 128MB of video ram, front/rear facing cameras and dual analog sticks – arguably the most highly sought after feature of them all.

Currently, the PS Vita is available in many different markets with the WiFi model usually going for around $249.99. However, if you’re an overly mobile gamer who frequently finds themselves outside WiFi range then 3G connectivity is a must. For the 3G PS Vita consumers are asked to pay a premium of about $50 bringing the total to around $299.99. Unfortunately, for Canadian gamers, the 3G enabled PS Vita has yet to go on sale with no release date in sight – that is, until today.

Sony has come forth via PlayStation.Blog to announce that the PlayStation Vita with both 3G and WiFi will be launching on October 2 for the normal price of $299.99. Furthermore, they will also be bundling the console with two coupons that will net gamers with free downloads of both Gravity Rush and Unit 13. And, as a side note for those of you wondering, you will in fact have to pay for a PS Vita 3G plan (hey, this isn’t Amazon here). Offered by AT&T are monthly plans (no contract required) including 250MB for $14.99 and 3GB for $30. Canadian 3G service will be provided by Rogers as opposed to AT&T but are expected to be priced similarly.

While you wait for October 2nd to roll around, check out trailers for both Gravity Rush and Unit 13 after the break.

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While Activison’s Call of Duty franchise is largely considered the de facto first person shooter, EA has their own highly successful shooter in Battlefield. To date there have been countless Battlefield titles spanning many different consoles. The latest addition to the franchise is Battlefield 3 which launched in October, 2011 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. To date there has been quite a bit of downloadable content for the game which not only adds new maps but new weapons and game modes as well. While you can opt to buy each DLC pack individually, EA has come up with a much hotter deal.

Available today is Battlefield 3 Premium Edition at $59.99. Along with the standalone game, consumers will also be gifted with a premium membership which gives access to every single DLC pack including Close Quarters, Back to Karkand and even the packs set to launch later this year, Aftermath and Endgame. For anyone who has yet to pick up Battlefield 3, this is clearly the way to go.

Luckily, EA and DICE have announced that they will be launching Battlefield 3 Premium Edition simultaneously on each console the game is currently available for: Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3. If you need more convincing, check out DICE’s announcement trailer for the Battlefield 3 Premium Edition below.

Rockstar’s GTA 5 isn’t expected out until sometime next year but the company has been nice enough to release a plethora of official screen shots. These screenshots give us a glimpse of many different things to come from the highly anticipated title. Not only do we get a look at the return of bicycles, a biplane, possibly a tennis mini game and many different cars and other vehicles but the graphics really shine with these screen shots. Due to the graphical finnesse shown off in these screen shots its generally assumed that a PC version is being shown. However it would be safe to assume that Xbox 360 and PS3 gamers can expected a dramatic increase in terms of graphics over GTA 4.

To date, Rockstar has released 12 official GTA 5 screenshots and are expected to release more as time goes on. We will continuously update this page as more screen shots are made available.

As just about everyone knows Call of Duty is without a doubt one of the most popular first person shooter genres on the scene today. This is made evident by the fact that the franchise has made its way onto many different consoles spanning countless titles. Next up in the series is Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 which will follow up last year’s smash hit Modern Warfare 3. However, while both games will be published under the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 3 was produced by Infinity Ward where as Black Ops 2 will be pushed out by Treyarch who also made Call of Duty: World at War and later, Call of Duty: Black Ops.

With Black Ops 2’s November 13th release date quickly approaching it should come as no surprise that both Activision and Treyarch are looking to start the hype train up. Today, the companies have come forth to release yet another trailer for the game – this time showing off the main antagonist Raul Menendez. While this doesn’t give us too deep of a look at the game’s inner gameplay, it does go to show that Treyarch is putting a considerable amount of effort into the game’s storyline. This is in contrast to previous titles that many have said to have top notch multiplayer game play but a rather stale storyline.

Anyways, check out the trailer above and let us know what you think about it in the comments below.

With so many different companies utilizing it, it’s no secret that free-to-play models do in fact work. For those not familiar with these models what game developers will do is offer a game free of charge to download and play. However, they will then offer further content be it weapons, items, energy or what have you for a fee. In theory, this will entice gamers to continuously cough up the dough to progress further than is offered in the free-to-play component.

Sony Online Entertainment is no stranger to this model and will be continuing the fun. Just announced today from SOE is Bullet Run a first person shooter that will be released free-to-play. This game will allow up to 20-players to duke it out in either Team Deathmatch or Dominion across six different maps. What seems to be unique about this game is that gamers are tasked with making kills as stylish as possible to earn fame as the entire game is set within a reality game show.

Those interested can register for the ACONY developer Bullet Run now with no official release date yet announced. Additionally, you can also check out the game’s first trailer below.

Out of seemingly no where, Dead Island managed to emerge from the highly saturated zombie niche and truly impress. If you’re not familiar with the game, it’s essentially an open world first person shooter that tasks a player with exploring a tropical resort overrun by a nasty zombie infection. But, it seems that we weren’t the only ones impressed by the game as it’s just been announced that a special Dead Island Game of The Year Edition will be dropping this summer.

According to Deep Silver, included in this Dead Island Game of The Year edition is all of the previously released DLC including Bloodbath Arena and Ryder White. Furthermore, this will also give those who missed out on the pre-order bonus The Ripper to grab the item as a blueprint will be included with the GoTY Edition.

In terms of an actual release date, we’re told that Dead Island Game of The Year Edition will drop for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in North America on June 26th for $29.99. Across the pond, European gamers will be able to get their hands on the special edition come July 6th. Stay tuned.

Game Informer has been nice enough to show off their latest cover which gives tribute to none other than The Elder Scrolls Online. If you’ve been paying attention you’ll probably know that following the success of Skyrim, rumors have been circulating that say Bethesda may be looking towards breaking into the MMORPG scene. Today, thanks to the above mentioned Game Informer cover, we now know that the game is in fact real and will be dubbed The Elder Scrolls Online.

Unfortunately we know virtually nothing about what will be included in this game. What we do know, however, is that gamers will be able to choose from 3 separate factions and that the game will be out sometime next year. What we also know is that the story takes place 1,000 years before the events of Skyrim and follow a daedric prince by the name of Molag Bal as he attempts to take over all of Tamriel.

As I just mentioned, The Elder Scrolls Online is set to drop sometime in 2013. In the mean time, sit tight and wait for the next edition of Game Informer to drop where we’re sure to hear quite a bit more.

[Game Informer]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim was met with critical acclaim when it originally hit shelves towards the end of last year. Applauded for its immersive gameplay and massive landscape, Skyrim was monumental in introducing the new age to The Elder Scrolls.While the game is massive, its addictive nature probably means that you’ve already completed the main story line and are begging for more content. Lucky for you, Bethesda will be staying true to their promise by offering downloadable content the first of which was announced today.

Said downloadable content is to be dubbed Dawnguard and will provide Skyrim players with never before seen content. Unfortunately, what exactly that content is we aren’t sure because other than letting us know that it will be coming to the Xbox 360 this summer, Bethesda provided us with no details. Luckily, some rumors have suggested that crossbows, new vampire animations and Snow Elf characters may be making the cut. Of course, until Bethesda comes forth to speak on the matter we won’t know for sure but we’re sure to hear a lot more once E3 2012 rolls around. Stay tuned.

[CVG]

Activision has finally taken center stage to talk about their latest forthcoming Call of Duty game but not in a way we would normally expect. Instead, Activision has taken to the official Call of Duty site to spell out the game’s official name in morse code. As we told you just a few days ago, a leaked Target pre-order card suggested that the next game would be called Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Now, in the above mentioned morse code fashion, Activision has in fact spelled out the name officially.

Of course, other than the name (which we kind of already knew about) getting confirmed, we don’t learn much of anything else here. Luckily, now that the name has been confirmed Activision is free to give us insight into all of that juicy gameplay we we all love. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted. On another note, make sure to stay tuned to TNT tomorrow during the NBA playoffs where Activision will be showing off the game’s official debut trailer.

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